Week in review: there-was-more-than-just-macworld-and-CES? edition

The week gone by was chock full of news from Macworld and CES. But that wasn't …

As one might expect, given the fact that both Macworld 2009 and the Consumer Electronics Show kicked off this past week, those two venues dominated the news this week. Well, sort of. Read on.

Everyone knows that digital distribution is the future for video. Netflix reinforced this with its announcement that it is going straight to the TV, courtesy of LG. No DVDs in the mail, no set-top boxes; just sweet HD content delivered directly to your Internet-connected LG HDTV. There was a slew of other, 'Net connected TV announcements, as well.

Apple's MWSF keynotes are always big news and this year was no exception, even if SVP Phil Schiller stood in for Steve Jobs. Many considered this year's keynote to be a bit of a yawner. The big news was a new 17" MacBook Pro, complete with 1920x1200 display, LED-backlit screen, and 2.66GHz CPU. Other news included the end of music DRM in the iTunes Store and new versions of both iWork and iLife. Be sure to check out our first impressions of the new MBP.

It's not easy to ditch your landline if you can only get a single bar (or less) in your domicile. That's why cellular providers have been eyeing femtocells with interest. AT&T is about to dip its toes in the femtocell waters with a product that connects to your home broadband coverage in order to give you a solid signal for your 3G handset.

At the heart of every PlayStation 3 is a Cell processor. A new book by some employees of Big Blue reveals that IBM managed to get Sony to underwrite R&D for a supercomputing CPU that eventually formed the basis for Cell CPU. What Sony didn't know is that IBM re-purposed part of the Cell design (the general-purpose processor core, or "PPE" unit) for Microsoft's Xbox 360 CPU, the Xenon.